Making their home in Chorlton, Nu 1 the Cope Family

Oak Bank in 1841

An occasional series about people who settled in Chorlton.

Frederick Cope had moved here from Oxford Street in 1845.  He described himself as a spirit and wine merchant and was in partnership with his brother.  They had a number of premises across the city including 12 Exchange Street, opposite the Exchange and close to St Anne’s Square and St Anne’s Church.

The family bought Oak Bank   which consisted of
 "three entertaining rooms, six bedrooms, excellent kitchen, scullery, cellars, &c.  The outbuildings consist of two coach houses, stabling for four horses, gardener's room, wash house, laundry, &c.  There are good gardens well stocked with fruit trees and about three acre. "
It stood in a parcel of land bounded by Wilbraham Road, Barlow Road, Sandy Lane and Corkland Road

As well as the house and gardens there was a stretch of land running along Barlow Moor lane to Lane End which was a mix of woodland and meadowland which was rented. Later still Frederick bought the farm tenanted by Thomas Cookson at Dark Lane, Martledge.

The estimated rental value of Oak Bank was £130 and with its rateable value of £120 marked it out as the highest rated domestic property in the township.  Added to this was the farm at Dark Lane which also commanded an estimated rental value of £130.

All of this makes the Cope family very wealthy, and as we shall see from other well off families who moved into the township they played little part in the politics of the community.

The Sawyers Arms, 1973

So while Frederick had been active in the 1830s calling for an improvement into the policing of Manchester,  later tried to secure a property vote in 1841, and twice served on the Grand Jury his names does not appear in any of the records for Chorlton nor were any of the family buried here.

They remained rooted in the city and their business continued to expand during the decade.  In 1857 the partnership had acquired the Exchange Tavern on St Mary’s Gate and may well have owned the court which bore their name also off St Mary’s Gate which was given over to business and industrial businesses.  In 1853 Frederick’s daughter was married not in the parish church but in Manchester cathedral.  And briefly for a while had links with the Sawyers Arms on Deansgate

From, THE STORY OF CHORLTON-CUM-HARDY, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/the-story-of-chorlton-cum-hardy.html

Picture; detail from the OS map of Lancashire, 1841-53, courtesy of Digital Archives, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/ and Sawyers Arms, H Milligan, 1973,m50482,courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council

* Valuable Property in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, The Manchester Guardian, June 28, 1845